The Irish have always been better than most at finding reasons to be cheerful. So it was at Malahide Cricket Club, where they could take much pride and a little enjoyment that two of their own performed so well on a glorious day north of Dublin. The only problem was that Eoin Morgan and Boyd Rankin were playing for England, who won a highly entertaining contest by six wickets with seven overs to spare.

The Irish pair, along with Ravi Bopara, who has no obvious connections here, rescued England from a perilous situation. Rankin, making his debut in this form of the game, had taken four wickets as the home side chalked up 269 for seven. But then England were reduced to 48 for four mostly due to a fine opening spell from Tim Murtagh.

The situation was bleak but Morgan, who played club cricket on this ground as a 13-year-old, produced one of his specials, 124 runs from 106 balls, leaving a few locals pondering just how potent their own side might be if he and Rankin, a more recent departure, represented the country of their birth. Morgan's proud father was looking on, craving an Irish victory, no doubt. "I'm sure he's had a good day in hospitality," said son Eoin, who as England's captain now turns his attention to the campaign against Australia.

Morgan has long since plotted his career path with Middlesex and England but he has seldom played such a well-judged innings. Initially he was watchful as the situation demanded. England's upper order had looked fragile and uncomfortable so he had to bide his time. But soon his own peculiar magic, that must have entranced a few men and a dog here over a decade ago, was in evidence. He seldom bothered with the reverse sweeps.

Instead there were whiplash sixes over extra cover and midwicket alongside deft placements wherever the fielders weren't. It was an innings to spare England's blushes and too many complaints about all the absentees.

Bopara was equally dismissive of the home bowlers in a helter-skelter 226-run partnership, clumping sixes over midwicket, seemingly at will. He had not reached 50 in a one-day international for more than a year and 12 matches but now in this young side he was something of a gnarled old pro. The sixes were eye-catching but nothing bettered a back-foot drive through the covers off Murtagh early in his innings of 101 from just 75 balls.

By the end England were galloping home with time and wickets to spare, but 60 overs into the match an embarrassing defeat loomed. They handicapped themselves not only because Michael Carberry twice dropped catches that professionals are supposed to gobble up as automatically as popping the right sponsor's hat on top of their heads when they are interviewed in front of the cameras, but also because of some poor decisions before the game.

Their selections were tough to understand and posed problems for Captain Morgan. In short, they did not have enough bowlers out there. They preferred the security of having someone such as Ben Stokes at No8 on the card. As a consequence they had to scramble overs from Bopara, Luke Wright, who chose this occasion to experiment with off-cutters (plenty of work still to be done there), and Carberry, whose bowling (one over off one pace) was no more impressive than his fielding. Between them this trio yielded 74 runs off 11 overs.

How Morgan would have liked another proper bowling option, probably Danny Briggs. There was plenty of turn for James Tredwell and Briggs should have been a handful on this surface. Instead the Irish had to deal with a lacklustre Bopara plus Wright and Carberry adlibbing.

On a good day for captains, William Porterfield delivered a typically gutsy innings. He has never been the most beautiful of batsmen but if he played and missed or his timing was awry he shrugged his shoulders and soldiered on while more glamorous batsmen came and went.

Paul Stirling crunched two crunching boundaries off Rankin before edging his old colleague to second slip. Ed Joyce, to general bewilderment, eventually set off for the pavilion for no apparent reason, whereupon it became apparent that his heel had clipped the stumps and a bail had surreptitiously fallen to the ground.

The O'Brien brothers both threatened but delivered only little cameos. But there was stout support for Porterfield from John Mooney, who was on hand when the captain reached three figures in some style. On 94 Porterfield gave himself a little room against Rankin and then swung the ball way over the deep midwicket boundary – an extravagant way to reach a hundred from a batsman who permits himself few extravagances.

At the end the stalwart Trent Johnston, in his last year as an Irish cricketer, and Max Sorensen swung effectively to the delight of the largest crowd ever to watch a cricket match in Ireland, delight that was eventually tempered – but only a bit – by the superlative stroke play of Morgan and Bopara.